Thin. The mayor of phoenix saying bluntly her state reopened way too early. Despite the facts and the science, the president continues to minimize the pandemic, spreading misinformation. His own fda chief refusing to back up the president s claim that 99 of covid cases are harmless. Were covering all the angles. We want to begin with rosa flores in miami beach, florida. We are seeing a troubling trend across the country right now and were seeing a lot of that in florida. Reporter we are. Its troubling and its a dire situation across the united stat states. 32 states showing upward trends including california which busted its daily record this weekend with nearly 12,000 cases on sunday alone. The scenes out of san diego were reminiscent of prepandemic tim times. In texas in star and the rio grande, south texas, hospitals there have hit capacity. People in the Rio Grande Valley are getting messages on their phones warning them to stay home. Meantime as we look at whats happening where you are in florida were seeing a spike in cases and more concerns about hospitalization. Where do things stand right now . Reporter experts about a month ago were concerned about 1,000 cases per day, maybe 2,000 cases per day, florida busted its record over the weekend with more than 11,400 cases in just one day. When you look at the pass activity rate about a month ago, it was under 5 . You look now, its between 15 and 20 . As for hospitalizations, the state of florida releases the number of hospital beds available around the state, thats about 26 . Florida does not release the number of patients that are in the hospital with covid19, but that does not stop Miamidade County from releasing their own data, and its staggering. Take a look at this. We looked at the numbers this morning, and it shows that yesterday in Miamidade County, 1,538 individuals were hospitalized with covid19. On june 23rd, that number was 818, thats an 88 increase. During that same time period if you look at icu beds, an increase of 114 . The use of ventilators is an increase of 119 . That is why, erica, local officials here are very concerned. Theyve been screaming off the top of their lungs about the use of masks, about the need to social distance, and over the weekend, the mayor of miami beach, where i am here right now, erica, calling out the president , saying that he is sending mixed messages when he doesnt wear a mask and he holds rallies in other parts of the country that do not mandate masks, and according to dan gilbert, the mayor here of miami beach, he says that those messages are not helping. Erica . The numbers are staggering to see the increase in the number of hospitalizations and icu and ventilators being used. Rosa, thank you. Lets turn to texas where at least two counties are reporting their hospitals were at full capacity at the start of the Holiday Weekend. Cnns ed lavandera is live in dallas this morning. Ed, what is the latest . Reporter good morning, erica. Those two counties star and Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley in south texas urging people to shelter at home in place, because the hospitals there are at capacity and it say warning were starting to hear from more and more cities across the state here that have seen a staggering increase in the number of new coronavirus cases here in the last week and especially if you look back to midjune, the trajectory of new cases being reported here has really shot up dramatically here in this state in the last two weeks. The mayor of austin this morning telling cnn that the next two weeks could be dire in that city. Whats happened in texas, in may and june, we opened up in ways th s thas that were not su and now were having to turn that curve or else were looking at our hospitals being overwhelmed here in the next ten days to two weeks. Reporter the cdc forecast that hospitalizations could reach nearly 2,000 per day here in this state by midjuly, and that is a troubling trend, and if you remember back to april, late april, when state officials here were pushing to reopen the economy, one of the things that they pointed to was that the positive infection rate was under 6 . The positive infection rate now well over 13 . Erica . Wow, what a change. Ed lavandera with the latest from dallas, ed, thank you. Cnns evan mcmorrissantoro is in phoenix where the mayor says the state opened way too early. Evan, good morning. Reporter good morning. Let me set the stage for you sor sorry, let me set the stage for you here at arizona. Were expecting new numbers today. According to the latest figures, arizona has the highest per capita sevenday average of new coronavirus cases in the United States, and half of those infected are age 20 to 44, according to the Health Department. So with that in mind, this debate over closures is really whats dominating the conversation here. The mayor of phoenix kate gallego would like to see new closures including banning diners inside restaurants which is allowed but she doesnt have the power to do it. She said in an interview she cant do that on her own, needs the Governors Office to let her do that. The pandemic is putting a big strain on things here in the phoenix area. For the past few days, statewide, icu beds have hovered at about 90 capacity and thats remaining the case. Were here inify nix at ifify pe the Fire Department union posted an impassioned plea to facebook telling people not to call 911 with minor covid symptoms because of a alarming rate of infection among firefighters here. The department told cnn that 61 sworn members, 61 sworn members of the Fire Department here in phoenix are now, have come down with covid with the covid virus, erica. Wow. Amazing that they had to put that notice out as well. Thank you. We have just learned regenerons covid19 antibody drug is now moving into phase three trials. Elizabeth cohen is here to explain what this means. Elizabeth, good morning. What does this tell us that theyre moving now into phase three . This is really exciting news. There is so much hope for these kinds of drugs. Theyre a little bit a cross between a treatment and a vaccine. They take antibodies that fight off the disease, and instead of making a vaccine along the theory, they use it as a drug, take the best antibodies so that you can give it to patients. Lets take a look at the Clinical Trials that theyre moving into, erica. Its basically in three different groups. Theyre going to try out their drug in patients who are hospitalized with covid19, patients who are at home with covid19, so not as ill obviously, and also as a prevention for People Living in a house with someone with covid19 who are at high risk of getting it and if you add all of those up its 4,900 patients who are going to be involved in these Clinical Trials. These trials typically take months. They are not quick, but it is quicker than getting a vaccine. Erica . Well keep an eye out for those. Hundreds of the worlds top doctors are warning 239 of them signing this letter saying they want more public acknowledgment that the coronavirus can float and be transmitted through air droplets. When i read this, i thought dont we know this . Isnt that why masks are so important . Right, this gets very confusing and sort of a distinction that scientists understand, but sometimes its hard to really get. Lets talk about this. Mostly what authorities have talked about, you can see it on the cdcs web page is that its spread through sneezes and coughs. In other words, there has to be something propelling it. However, theres been a lot of talk that even just breathing can spread it, that you dont really need that kind of propelling to get it to get that to spread the virus, and this is not a big secret. The National Academy of sciences told the white house this more than three months ago, that they think just breathing can spread this virus. So now, these scientists, more than 200 of them, are telling the world health organization, lets talk about this openly. The word airborne is scary, but lets talk about this openly, that this does spread more easily, it seems, thats what studies are showing than people had first thought. Interesting. Well watch to see if theres any change there in the messaging. When it comes to Contact Tracing, weve talked about how it is vital to stopping the spread of the virus and how its frankly not being done in a lot of places, and you have a new investigation out this morning speaking to that. What did you find . We found erica in florida, which is now the nations number one hot spot as we just heard from rosa that their Contact Tracing is not necessarily going so well. We asked 27 patients with covid, diagnosed in florida, did you get a call from anyone at the Health Department saying tell me your contacts so that we can get in touch with these people and quarantine them. Out of those 27 only five got that phone call. When we talked to experts about this, they were not surprised. Look, florida had more than 11,000 new cases on saturday, which set a record for the United States, even more so than new york on its worst day back in april. When you have 11,000 new cases, dont think about the cases that already existed, its very hard to do consistent Contact Tracing. So it really does not seem to be working well in these areas with such a large number of patients. Elizabeth cohen, always good to see you, thank you. Still to come, President Trump announcing another Campaign Rally this week as he continues to push for more inperson events despite the rise in coronavirus cases. Plus the number of cases in brazil surging past 1. 6 million. Still that countrys largest city, sao paulo begins reopening today. At least five children killed during an uptick in shootings across the nation this Holiday Weekend. Five children. The latest violence comes as communities wrestle with the role of policing in the wake of George Floyds death. Stay with us. I dont keep track of regrets and i dont add up the years, but what i do count on. Is boost high protein. And now, theres boost mobility. With key nutrients to help support. Joints, muscles, and bones. Try boost mobility, with added collagen. This weekend, coronavirus cases surged in the u. S. Hospitalizations spiked and all of this happening as the president planned a new Campaign Rally for this saturday. Cnns joe johns is at the white house with details for us this morning. Joe, good morning. Reporter good morning, erica. Just within the last few minutes, a meeting of the Coronavirus Task force has been put on the white house schedule for 4 00 eastern time today. That meeting is going to be closed to press as far as we know right now. The Coronavirus Task force did not meet over the Holiday Weekend, and its important to also point out that in the early days of the pandemic, they met quite regularly, but certainly not this last weekend. Meanwhile, even before that went on the schedule, we did find another addition, that would be the trumppence Campaign Rally scheduled for portsmouth, new hampshire, on saturday. This is a rally that will be outdoors in new hampshire, around 8 00 p. M. , also a press release went out indicating that there will be an ample supply of hand sanitizer, masks will also be provided to individuals who want to go to that rally, and they are also being provided with that obligatory limitation on liability document they have to sign in order to attend. So we know that is going on as well. Its interesting, of course, because this will be the first Campaign Rally for the president of the United States since that controversial rally in tulsa, oklahoma, not very long ago, in which two individuals who work for the campaign and eight secret Service Agents tested positive for coronavirus. Erica, back to you. Joe with the latest for us at the white house, thank you. We turn to the fda commissioner who refused to deny a false claim made by the president. Here is what the president falsely said and the commissioners response, when he was asked about it directly. Now we have tested almost 40 Million People. By so doing, we show cases 99 of which are totally harmless. Im not going to get into whos right and whos wrong. Ill say what i said before, dana, its a serious problem that we have. Weve seen this surge in cases. We must do something to stem the tide and we have this in our power to do it by following the guidance from the White House Task force and the cdc. Joining me now is Infectious Disease specialist dr. Carlos del rio. Doctor, when we listen to what we heard from the fda commissioner who didnt defend but didnt deny what the president was saying, his false claim of 99 , theres that and we heard moments ago from the white house chief of staff, mark meadows who doubled down on that number, and said that the 99 in his words came from actual numbers. Are you aware of those numbers that show 99 of cases are harmless . Absolutely not, erica, and i think thats wrong. Thats not true, and that needs to be corrected immediately. I understand why the fda commissioner was hesitant to contradict his boss, the president , but im not hesitant to contradict the president. The president is wrong. Thats a lie and that needs to be corrected. How damaging is that information that is out there and again were now hearing, the white house double down on it . I think its wrong because misinformation i think is really hampering the response of this epidemic, whether its misinformation about masks, whether its misinformation about transmission, whether its misinformation about not being a serious disease, whether its misinformation having enough hospital capacity, where theres misinformation that more test something why we have more cases. All the misinformation is actually not helping our response, and in fact, the lack of good information is really one of the major hurdles to a Good National response we have. Well, looking when it comes to information, the fda commissioner said it was too early to tell whether it would be safe for republicans to hold a Convention Activity in jacksonville next month. At this point, based on what we do know, to your point, based on the information that we do have, is it safe for anyone to hold a convention anywhere next month . Well, call it a convention, call it a church event, call it a wedding, anything that brings a lot of people, anything that creates crowding indoors is not safe right now, and i would discourage people to attend whether its a convention, whether its a wedding, a funeral, anything that brings a lot of people into one close space is not where you cannot wear masks, where you cannot social distance is not the right thing to do at this moment. As we look at the numbers were seeing across the country, these records being set daily in the new hot spots, more than 11,000 cases added in florida on saturday, 9,999 yesterday, l. A. Breaking these records, almost 12,000 new cases reported. Theres also the death rate, which right now is about 4. 5 . There are folks who are looking at the number of deaths versus the number of cases and saying look, the number of deaths is going down. Its not as serious. We dont have to worry as much. Its younger people getting infected. They dont get as sick. What is your response to that . What do you see in that 4. 5 death rate, which is higher than the flu . Well, i think there are several things. Number one is that, yes, there are younger people getting infected who have a lower mortality. Yes, weve gotten somewhat better at managing this disease so our mortality is coming down but at the same time, lets face it. Its real. This mortality is not insignificant. The mortality lags behind cases. You see cases going up right now and youll see mortality go up in a couple weeks. The u. S. Is not one epidemic, its a combination of multiple epidemics. In florida theyre starting to see mortality goes up, in many of the states mortality goes up. It lags a couple weeks so dont be fooled by that. The mortality is significant, can be significant particularly over the age of 65 or a young person in the hospital gravely ill because this person has obesity and diabetes. If you have obesity, diabetes, hypertension at age 30, youre more like a 70yearold person. Were also learning who is impacted and weve known some of this, but the data really backing it up now. The New York Times reporting this morning according to federal data from the cdc, latino and black people are three times as likely to become infected as white neighbors and nearly twice as likely to die from the virus, and it is not just about comorbidities. Theres a lot more that goes into why the rates are higher. It is about social determinants of health, or shall we say social determinants of disease. Its about poverty. Its about housing. Its about employment. If you work i have the privilege of being able to telework. Teleworking, sheltering in place is privilege but people who live in crowded conditions with multiple people, multigenerational households, people that are front line workers that arent able to protect themselves, put themselves at higher risk, so i think we need to say as it is, poverty and social determinants of health are driving the epidemic. This is an epidemic of Health Disparities. Until we take Health Disparities seriously and address them as a nation, well continue to see Health Disparities throughout our country. Dr. Carlos del rio, always appreciate your insight. Thank you. Thank you, erica. Like the United States, brazil is reopening, despite a r